Minnesota Wrestling wrapped up the first day of the 2013 NCAA Championships in third place. It was a day of upsets, going both ways as favorites were knocked down and underdogs pushed ahead. After 20 matches in two sessions, the Gophers hold 24 team points. The team trails second-place Oklahoma State by only five points. Penn State held improved upon its lead from the morning and stands strong in first with 32.5 points.

All 10 of the Gopher competitors will continue to compete tomorrow. Five remain in position to capture team titles, while the other five will strive for third place in the wrestleback consolation brackets. Chris Dardanes, Cody Yohn, Logan Storley, Scott Schiller, and Tony Nelson have earned places in tomorrow morning’s quarterfinals.

Dardanes (5) picked up what would be the first of three Gopher pins on the day. He notched the fall against Rutgers’ Vincent Dellafave at the 2:47 mark to move to the next round. Tomorrow he will start the day against No. 4 A.J. Schopp of Edinboro.

Storley (6) will face familiar foe Mike Evans (3) of Iowa in the quarterfinals tomorrow morning. He earned his spot with a 9-1 major decision over Matt Mougin of Northern Illinois. After notching bonus points with a 5:42 fall over Odie Delaney (The Citadel), Nelson (2) meets Jarod Trice (10) of Central Michigan in the heavyweight quarterfinal.

Nick Dardanes, Dylan Ness, and Kevin Steinhaus each saw second-round loses they weren’t expecting. Dardanes, the No. 8 seed, fell in an overtime tiebreaker against Richard Durso, the No. 9 seed from Franklin and Marshall. At 149 lbs., Ness (6) was knocked out by Missouri‘s Drake Houdashelt after a late takedown. At 184 lbs., Steinhaus (5) was also a victim of a close call with a 3-2 loss to Iowa’s Ethen Lofthouse (12). All three will compete in tomorrow’s consolations.

David Thorn and Danny Zilverberg bounced back from first round losses. And they bounced back in style! Thorn notched another pin for the Gophers. He defeated Penn’s Mark Rappo, capitalizing quickly at the 1:20 mark for 2.5 team points. Zilverberg knocked the No. 3 seed out of the competition with his 7-1 winning performance at 157 lbs.

The Gophers are back on the mat tomorrow morning, beginning at 10 a.m. Fans will be able to follow the bouts through live video on ESPN3 and ESPNU and live stats at trackwrestling.com. Also be sure to follow along with the Dual Day Live Blog for insider details on the competition.